The labels we wear must be truthful… Learning to fill our thought closets with God‘s truth!

It’s one thing to be aware that there is a problem but quite another to know exactly what to do to turn a challenge into an opportunity for growth:-)

Some issues are more stubborn than others but from a biblical perspective the same set of principles apply.

The more of your senses that are bombarded by said challenge the more diligent one must be in applying GOD’s Word and putting on the armor.

Issues and concerns as it pertains to our though closets can get messier before things start to look better. It’s always this way when we are cleaning up!

So, this is not the time to check in with your emotions to see if things are actually getting better. Most likely, your emotions will not have cleared enough distance between them and the painful thought to be able to give a positive report.

Hurtful labels can come from different places in our lifetimes (parents, siblings, employer, former failures, childhood comments etc.) But all lies originate from the enemy (Satan).

List some of your most hurtful labels in life and place them under the correct heading.

Are your labels based on actual truth?

What does Ephesians 6:12 state? Look up this scripture and fill in the blank spaces below.

We do not wrestle against …… but we do wrestle against…….

So, just below is our formula for building a orderly Thought Closet and crushing all the lies we have formerly entertained or believed about ourselves. Place all lying thoughts captive because they are half truths that are God law breakers. The blood of Jesus has been shed and these thought hold no rights or authority over you as a believer in Christ Jesus.

3-6The world is unprincipled. It’s dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn’t fight fair. But we don’t live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity.

That message bible put it all in perspective in plain English, we get God’s Word!

Label Makers:

We all need to have a good talk with ourselves from time to time. How do we evaluate if a conversation with ourselves is actually life building?

If you walk away feeling condemned and not feeling good enough then either you have trouble accepting correction due to something like excessive pride or the words used did not help you to build a clearer picture of who you are in Christ and what steps you need to take next to more closer towards a clearer image and likeness of HIM.

Being place under conviction and being condemned are two different things.

DILEMMA: HOW DO I KNOW IF I’M FEELING CONVICTION OR CONDEMNATION?

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Give your feeling a Lab Test:

I John 1:6-2:2

1 John 1:6-10 (NLT) 6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.

To the church he says: If you will confess (own up to) HE WILL FORGIVE!

Repentance = Genuine Remorse!

2 Corinthians 7:3 (NLT) I’m not saying this to condemn you. I said before that you are in our hearts, and we live or die together with you.

2 Corinthians 7:8-11 (NLT) 8 I am not sorry that I sent that severe letter to you, though I was sorry at first, for I know it was painful to you for a little while. 9 Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, but because the pain caused you to repent and change your ways. It was the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have, so you were not harmed by us in any way. 10 For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death. 11 Just see what this godly sorrow produced in you! Such earnestness, such concern to clear yourselves, such indignation, such alarm, such longing to see me, such zeal, and such a readiness to punish wrong. You showed that you have done everything necessary to make things right.

SOMETIMES we feel the mixture of feeling in us… BUT AFTER GENUINE REP.

Any guilt, shame, dread, sorrow, = THE DEVIL

1 John 3:7-10 (NLT) 7 Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. 8 But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. 9 Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God. 10 So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.

1 John 3:19-22 (NLT) 19 Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God. 20 Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. 22 And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him.

SOMETIMES… we condemn ourselves – with doubt, fear, low esteem,

WE REFUSE TO FEEL FREE – EVEN AFTER A CLEANSING!

LISTEN: God is greater then your heart! No Matter How You Feel!

TRUST THE WORD ====> W/O FAITH IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE HIM!

JESUS IS OUR HIGH PRIEST!

Hebrews 4:1-4 (NLT) 1 God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. 2 For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God. 3 For only we who believe can enter his rest. As for the others, God said, “In my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest,’” even though this rest has been ready since he made the world. 4 We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day: “On the seventh day God rested from all his work.”

Hebrews 4:16-19 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things [pertaining] to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins: Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.

(quite dissecting everything to the enth degree)

II Cor 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare [are] not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

( You must learn to fly on instruments! – TRUST THE WORD! )

Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.